The present invention relates to a composite dough material and process for producing the same.
Flours used for the production of yeast leavened bread vary widely in terms of their baking performance. Flours which are of a high quality, produce breads of high loaf volume and good internal texture whereas flours that are of a lesser quality are correspondingly lower in both of these baking characteristics. The addition of a fibrous material to yeast leavened dough for producing breads or similar baked products of reduced calories, for the most part reduces the baking performance of the dough to which it is added depending on both the amount of the fibrous additive, as well as the type of additive employed. In order to overcome any shortcomings involved in the baking performance of doughs containing a fibrous additive it is not uncommon to supplement the fiber containing dough with vital wheat gluten in order to improve baking performance. While the addition of wheat gluten provides an acceptable result, wheat gluten will often lose functionality during manufacture, and may have to be added in large quantities to poor quality doughs in order to improve baking performance. This not only increases the cost of manufacture but introduces a new variable to the baking process which makes commercial use more difficult.
It would therefore be highly desirable if a means could be found of employing a poor quality dough in the production of baked goods, specifically a dough containing a significant percentage of fibrous material without a corresponding reduction in baking performance.